Snatches of a Rumpled Genius
by Primsong
Summary: A collection of drabbles for the brilliant Second Doctor and his companions, isn't it just delightful?
1. Sleeping in my Mind

An introspective moment from _Tomb of the Cybermen_, prompt _'haunted'._

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**Sleeping in my Mind**

The Doctor watched Victoria's face, not sure if he'd reassured her as he'd hoped. Her father was only recently dead; his grieving, if you called it that, was immeasurably long ago. Well, perhaps measurably. He didn't care to measure it. Better to just let that paper boat metaphorically drift away.

I really _do_ have to _want_ to remember them, he thought with faint surprise. They'd pop up before, unwelcome jack-in-the-boxes when some event, scent or sound triggered them.

Their memories slept.

He flitted around that slumbering presence a moment, then turned away.

One day she would forget too.


	2. Pick One

_The name's McCrimmon…. James McCrimmon…_

_This little drabble was later expanded into a story titled "Unnecessary Vector"_

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**Pick One**

"Och, there's two!" Jamie looked up at her with panic in his eyes. "Which wire do I pull? The red one or the blue one?"

There was no way either of them could know. Victoria shut her eyes, tight. "Pick one!"

"What if it's wrong?"

"Just…pick one! I don't know. Red!"

Jamie yanked the red wire from the console. Sparks flew, the TARDIS shuddered and lurched sending Victoria stumbling over him.

There was a pause.

"Y' shoulda known better than to be standin'," Jamie observed.

She slowly sat up. "We're alive!"

Jamie drew his dirk. "Aye. Come on, let's free the Doctor!"


	3. And They'd Probably Sing Too

_The prompt was 'wake' - for whatever reason, this was the type of wake that came to mind. Theoretically this is for Four, but hey, it mentions Jamie…._

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**And They'd Probably Sing Too**

"I've never had a wake," the Doctor said thoughtfully. He tentatively sipped his drink. "It's really not fair, now that I think about it."

The assortment of mourners and relatives of the deceased laughed and talked around them, succumbing cheerfully to the effect of generously applied spirits.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Romana said. "You're not Irish."

"Maybe Scottish? Jamie was a Scot. I think the Brigadier is. Would they count?"

"Only if they were willing to drink themselves into a stupor for you."

"Oh, I'm sure they would. Especially when they found out they could do it three times running."


	4. Once More, Hold the Frosting

_'Round and 'round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. Prompt 'cakewalk'._

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**Once More, Hold the Frosting**

One thing about a less-than-perfect navigational system, the Doctor reflected, was that you never quite knew what you'd find when you stopped. Maybe what you were aiming for… or not.

This hadn't been one of the better ones.

"Och!" Jamie complained, trying vainly to rub the brightly coloured frostings from his precious kilt. "I'll never want to set foot in a baker's shop again!" He wasn't alone. The Doctor scraped wads of the stuff from his face and smacked the controls.

Well, sometimes you got nothing, sometimes you got cake.

The rotor started singing and the game began again.


	5. And a Little Golden TARDIS

_As Victoria knows, only the most important things are worthy of commemoration.  
_

-

**And a Little Golden TARDIS Too**

"What is it?" Jamie asked. He picked up her wrist, peering at dangling bits of gold.

"A charm bracelet," Victoria explained. "Why, the Queen herself wears one."

"What're they for?"

"Each one is for a special event," Victoria said patiently. "This one," she said as she fingered a diminutive version of Big Ben, "was from when Father took me to see Westminster for the first time."

"Ah," Jamie said slyly. "An' where's the one for when you met me?… I mean, me an' the Doctor."

"The day I find a charm that looks like a kilt, I'll let you know."


	6. Court Dress

_Polly has an uncanny instinct for acceptable fashion, to Jamie's disappointment._

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**Court Dress**

"Greetings! Take us to your leader!" teased Polly, holding a large fishbowl over her head.

Ben laughed and put on one of his own.

Jamie just rolled his eyes, glad the Doctor hadn't seen them - though to be honest he almost pointed them out. Both had so often treated him like an unschooled child it was tempting to put the shoe on the other foot and make them appear fools for once.

The Doctor dashed down the store aisle. "Quick! Everyone get a fishbowl on your head! We can't get into the King's presence without one!"


	7. Fashion Statements

_A little nod to the wonderful costumers of The Underwater Menace, in which Two not only gets to dress as a gypsy, but forgets to remove a little bauble later._

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**Fashion Statements**

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Ben said as they gratefully watched the time rotor rise and fall.

"Wasn't so bad?" Polly said, aghast. "What - we were almost fed to sharks, sacrificed, they even tried to turn us into fish people! How can you say that it wasn't so bad?"

"Ah, but you looked a fine bird in seashells, Duchess," Ben grinned.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Aye, she did. An' I think the Doctor quite enjoyed bein' a gypsy," put in the young highlander.

"Why do you say that?" grumbled the Doctor.

"Ye've still got an earring," he grinned.


	8. Book End

_From __The Mind Robber__, prompt 'open and closed.'_

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**Book End**

"Jamie!" Zoe cried, instinctively appealing to him in her fear. Not that he could do anything more than he was; the white robots relentlessly pushed the book shut upon them, oversized pages pressing in. The young man was no match for them.

"Push, Zoe!" he despaired, pressing with all his strength on the incoming wall of text. His feet slid back, heels catching on the opposing side; muscles trembled, to no avail.

He heard Zoe scream. Their hands pushed through the text as it absorbed them, their very lives entangling in the story, hostages delivered into the hands of madness.


	9. No, No, I'm Sure the Weather will be Fin...

_Really, it couldn't be balmier. _

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**No, No, I'm Sure the Weather will be Fine**

"If we live through this holiday," yelled Jamie, "I'm goin' to definitely be askin' for another holiday to make up for it!"

"What?" the Doctor yelled back. Saltwater streamed from his dark hair making it impossible to see his friend, and the wind kept slapping his wet tie at his face.

Jamie held his breath as another ice-cold wave slammed into their ship, soaking them even further. The ship lifted and plummeted once again, making him redouble his grip on the ropes that held them to the mast.

"I said… oh never y' mind!"

Just a pleasant little sea-voyage _indeed. _


	10. Dissembling Past these Thorns

_The Doctor faces a hard choice in __The Evil of the Daleks_

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**Dissembling Past these Thorns**

"What do you want with Jamie?"

The Doctor's voice was deceptively soft but his blue eyes sparked hard and dangerous. It was an unthinkable game they played, seeking to imbue the Dalek race with elusive, indefinably human factors; taking them on as if merely adopting yet another technological weapon.

_I must play along,_ he thought, dissembling, desperately hoping Jamie's trust would withstand the twist, this duplicitous sham of a betrayal. A cruelty, to force such manipulation of trust.

And yet…

Was it possible? The shining qualities of this young Highlander warming those glacial hearts?

It _must_ at _least _be _tried._


	11. A Most Unusual Butterfly

_It isn't the changing that's worrisome, it's what he might become._

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**A Most Unusual Butterfly**

The Doctor felt his face; everything felt strange, absolutely_ everything_. Most disconcerting. Had anything gone wrong? He'd never done this before, and from all the soothing platitudes spouted to anxious first-timers, he couldn't clearly recall a single one.

Butterflies didn't seem this addled when they emerged. Of course, they didn't do it all in one go.

"Mirror," he mumbled to someone, a girl, her name unknown; such trivial details would have to wait for higher priorities just now.

His reflection showed a rumple of shockingly dark hair and a face..well, no butterfly, no. Still… he smiled experimentally.

This would fly.


	12. All the Time in the World

**All the Time in the World**

_(I think I left somethin' back at home…if y' don't mind stoppin' in a wee bit.)_

_--  
_

There were plenty of things that frustrated Jamie to no end. Small things, like the way no one seemed to really appreciate the genius of his friend, or Victoria's reticence on adopting local dress. And bigger, quieter things, like trying not to think too hard about the bits he'd overheard on the fate of his Clan.

Of course they'd go back _before_ it all, one of these days, and _he'd_ set it right. Of course. Surely the Clan would be all right - after all, wasn't their very own piper's son a personal friend of someone as clever as the Doctor?


	13. Dates

_It's all a matter of perspective. (prompt 'behind')  
_

**Dates**

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"Is somethin' botherin' ye?"

"I don't know. It's… I guess I'm just feeling like I'm_ always_ behind."

"Behind? Behind what?"

Victoria gave a little laugh, bringing colour to his cheeks. "Not actually _behind_ anything. But, well…there's just so much _time_ out there."

"Aye?"

"And not nearly enough of it is _past_. All the history I know wouldn't fill one thimble! I'm just 'old-fashioned' to everyone." She sniffled.

Jamie looked down at her damp eyes and offered an awkward hug in comfort. "Y' aren't old-fashioned t' me."

"Really?"

"Really. Why, you're the bonniest lass from th' future I've ever met!"


	14. Early Bird Special

**Early Bird Special**

_Pass the analogies, I mean syrup._

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_

The Doctor poured another circle on the griddle. "They're nearly universal, you know," he said. "Pancakes. Every planet has at recipes for batter baked into flat cakes. Of course the ingredients vary tremendously. And not all of them are edible."

Jamie bleared at him and nearly poked his eye with the spoon-handle in his coffee. "Why have 'em if you can't eat 'em?"

"Oh, weapons, toys, money, decoration. The possibilities are endless, really. Take the TARDIS…"

"It uses pancakes?" Jamie mumbled.

"What?"

"It's…well, it's not round n' flat…"

"That's ridiculous."

"Jus' sayin'…eh?"

"Oh never mind. Here, eat up."

--


	15. Flushed Out

**Flushed Out**

_A 'Web of Fear' tip of the hat to the Yeti's roars - flushing, run backwards._

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"We know the Yeti are around here somewhere, but no one's been able to find them," the Corporal Lethbridge-Stewart said, clearly frustrated. "We've checked the Underground thoroughly in both directions. They've disappeared!"

"Nonsense," the Doctor said. "Yeti can't just disappear… good heavens, what's that noise?"

"Oh, some malfunction with the water-closets. They've been flushing endlessly all afternoon."

"Flushing?" The Doctor's eyebrows quirked.

The Corporal rolled his eyes. "The loos, Doctor. Now, about those Yeti… wait, where are you going?" The strange little man was pelting for the water-closets, waving his arms.

"Cordon off the loos! I know where they are!"


	16. Let's Just have a Danish

**Let's Just have a Danish**

_This recipe is too complicated anyway. (prompt 'pot')_

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"Boil, boil, toil and trouble," the Doctor muttered, noting a book on the nearby table. "Now look here, I think the original ingredients were supposed to be something like eye of newt and such, weren't they? I mean, unless Jamie here is hiding a batch of newt-eyes in his pockets, it _won't _work. Besides, Shakespeare never intended 'MacBeth' as a cookery book."

"Aye!" Jamie chimed in from where he hung over the huge cauldron. "An' I'm sure I wouldn't agree wi' ye either!"

The aliens paused, frowning.

"He's right," agreed the Doctor. "Let him down _quick_, before he ruins your stew!"


	17. Next Time Just Order a Cake

_(Reference to 'The Seeds of Death', prompt: bloom)_

**Next Time Just Order a Cake**

"Oh dear," the Doctor said, backpedaling back out of the room rapidly. He'd seen blooms of this kind before and had no desire whatsoever to deal with them again. "Quick, water!" he shouted. "Bring me some water!"

Zoe and Jamie shrugged at one another and brought him a cup.

He blinked at it. "No, no, no, water! Much more, buckets! Quickly, before they break open!"

This set them laughing. "Doctor," Zoe said. "They're balloons, not fungus spores!"

"What?"

Jamie smacked him across the shoulders with amusement. "A wee party for Zoe's birthday. Oh," he chortled, "Oh, th' look on your face!"


	18. Face It

_(Reference to 'other Jamie' after the Doctor rearranges his face in The Mind Robber, prompt 'fairy tale')_

**Face It**

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**

Jamie ran his hand over his face again, he just couldn't help it; it felt so foreign, worse than bandages or mumps or toothaches because it wasn't a swelling, it was a _change_.

"How could y' _do_ this to me?" he groused accusingly.

"Oh, I…er, it was dark," the Doctor dithered.

"No it wasn't."

"My hand twitched."

"I dinna think so."

"Artistic license."

"Oh, is _that_ what you call it, now! Admit you didn't pick the right parts!"

"Well, you must admit I've never had to pick your nose before. And it's hardly a skill I care to refine."


	19. Cliffhanger

**Cliffhanger** _(prompt 'edge')_

.

"_There_," the Doctor said, pulling Jamie up from his dangling position. Dislodged rocks tumbled and bounced; it was a long drop. "That was a bit of a cliffhanger, wasn't it?"

"I'll say," Jamie panted, half-bent as he recovered, then looked quizzical. "What is that, anyway? A cliffhanger? You're makin' a joke, something to do with stories, isn't it?"

"It's when something exciting happens but you don't know how it will turn out. You have to wait to see."

"Well, then that fits _you_ more than me! You're a regular walkin' cliffhanger all the time. Doctor, watch out!"

"Oh dear. _Run!_"


	20. Don't Tell Me if it's a Tragedy

**Don't Tell Me if It's a Tragedy **_(prompt "ignorance is bliss", post 'Five Doctors')_  
**-**

The Doctor rubbed his face, adjusting to the timestream shifting. The Death Zone debacle had ended satisfyingly enough, but he was shocked, nay – _horrified_ at his own future. Why had he felt Jamie and Zoe shouldn't be there, shouldn't remember him? Why had he been reduced to a mere Earth vehicle, so restricted? What in the world induced him to pick companions like _that_, to dress like that, to _be_ that?

"Doctor?"

Jamie's voice.

He grabbed for the connection to wipe his memory, before confusion and dissonance tore him apart, before he worried his friends. Sometimes ignorance was most definitely bliss.


	21. No More than a Fool

**No More than a Fool**

_Jamie & Zoe meet yet another invader setting himself up to learn the true meaning of 'harmless'. _

. . .

"We captured these last two in the city, sir."

The invading Overlord regarded the furious young man who glared at him over his gag even as he tried to kick the guards who held them. The petite girl beside him was firmly defiant. "Well done. Obviously violent and fomenting potential rebellion. Were there any more with them?"

"Only a little man, a fool they used for distraction while attempting their futile resistance sallies, no doubt. He got away, but he's harmless enough without these instigators. The population is cleared of all rebels."

"None stand in our way?"

"None."

"Launch the invasion!"


End file.
